Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery
In the early years of the 21st Century gvnet.com/humantrafficking/PapuaNewGuinea.htm

Independent State of
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea is richly endowed with natural resources, but exploitation has been hampered by rugged terrain and the high cost of developing infrastructure. Agriculture provides a subsistence livelihood for 75% of the population. Mineral deposits, including copper, gold, and oil, account for nearly two-thirds of export earnings.
A consortium led by a major American oil company hopes to begin the commercialization of the country's estimated 227 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves through the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facility by 2010. The project has the potential to double the GDP of Papua New Guinea. [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]


Papua New Guinea is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude; men are trafficked to logging and mining camps for the purpose of forced labor. Women and children from Malaysia, Thailand, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and the Philippines are trafficked to Papua New Guinea for forced prostitution and PRC men are trafficked to the country for forced labor. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report]

CAUTION: The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Papua New Guinea. Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

Organized And Institutionalized Sexual Exploitation And Violence
Seth Mydans, "A Bartered Bride’s ‘No’ Stuns Papua New Guinea: Rejection of Tribal Customs is a Sign of Changing Times," New York Times, 7 May 1997
www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/papuang.htm
[accessed 10 June 2013]
POLICY AND LAW - In Papua New Guinea, the compensation demand for the killing of a clan leader was $15,000, 25 pigs and an 18-year-old girl. However, Miriam Wilngal, an 18-year-old girl refused to be sold by her own tribe as an object of compensation for the murder of a tribe leader. She wanted to finish high school, and not be dependent upon a man.

The Protection Project - Papua New Guinea [DOC]
The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), The Johns Hopkins University
www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/papua.doc
[accessed 2009]
FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE – Pacific Island children may be particularly easy targets for child sex tourists. The South Pacific is emerging as a huge tourist destination. As police crack down on sex offenders in the home countries of child sex tourists (e.g., Australia), as well as in the more popular sex tourist destinations in Asia, there is growing concern that child sex tourism and associated activities are on the increase in the South Pacific In fact, sex tourists have been blamed for the latest eruption of HIV infections in the region. Fear of infection and stricter laws have prompted many sex tourists to skip traditional Southeast Asian destinations in favor of the South Pacific. Officially, however, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is still lower in the South Pacific than in any other region in the world.